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Whatever the trial, our gut tells us something is wrong. Pastoral Reflections on We aren’t supposed to be crushed by anxiety, beaten up Peace: Living in the by worry, or battered by loneliness. In the midst of a world that seems to know no peace, we are left longing “Nevertheless” for rest.

LIVING IN THE “NEVERTHELESS” I’ll never forget one of the first speeches I ever gave. My Tis lack of peace is especially problematic for boss, a U.S. senator, had been asked to address the Christians. We’ve read enough of the Bible to know God inaugural meeting of a bioethics advisory commission he expects us to be at peace. Nearly every New Testament made possible. But he couldn’t attend. He sent me, a letter begins with a call for peace to mark our lives (Rom young staffer, in his place. 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2; Gal 1:3; Eph 1:2; Phil 1:2; Col 1:2; 1 Tess 1:1; 2 Tess 1:2; 1 Tim 1:2; 2 Tim 1:2; A group of intimidating people filled the room: doctors, Titus 1:4; Philemon 1:3; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 John 1:3; 3 John lawyers, professors, and political professionals. I was a 1:15; Jude 1:2; Rev 1:4). novice. My nerves rattled as I sat there in my grey suit, beads of sweat gathering on my brow, overwhelmed by Te apostles called the church to know the peace of God the sense that I was in over my head. because they had seen the power of a peace-filled life. Even as the sword of persecution hung over its head, the I raced through my prepared remarks. Ten, before early church thrived: “So the church throughout all Judea anyone could respond, I nervously and awkwardly stood and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up, hoping that if I exited the room quickly no one would up” (Acts 9:31). Paul, who set himself up as an example, remember how it went. As I shuffled back to the office, I reminded the Christians in Philippi he knew how to live had no peace. at peace: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE to abound” (Phil 4:11-12). What I experienced that chilly, October day isn’t unusual. Everybody knows what it’s like to be uneasy, out-of-sorts, Paul and the first Christians followed in the footsteps of anxious, and afraid. From the soldier deployed on his first their Savior. Jesus suffered under the expectation of the mission to the salesman about to make his first pitch, crucifixion. He prayed for a way out, but he remained at we’ve all had to reckon with nerves that won’t calm down, peace with whatever the Father ordained: “Father, if you a heart beating out of our chest, and thoughts spinning are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not out of control. Everyone longs for peace; very few know my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). where to find it. Christians are supposed to live in the “nevertheless.” What comes to your mind when you think about the Scripture calls us to accept whatever God allows, to rest word peace? in whatever God sends, and confess with Samuel Rodigast, the seventeenth-century hymn writer: • Sitting in the shade on a warm, sandy beach with your favorite book in one hand and a cold drink in Whate’er my God ordains is right; the other? Tough now this cup, in drinking, • Your home, late at night, after all the kids are in bed May bitter seem to my faint heart, and nobody is demanding your attention? I take it all, unshrinking. • A month without another report of a mass shooting, suicide bomber, or drone strike? Each of us is called to live in the “nevertheless” by trusting • Going to work without worrying the boss is going to God in any and all circumstances. What makes this so yell at you, the vendor is going to fail you, or the hard, and how can we “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16) in customer is going to abandon you? such a way that peace bursts forth more naturally?

We all know life is full of disappointments. Whether Te answer is found in understanding the root of peace. large (war in the Middle East) or small (pain in our lower back), feelings of unrest seem woven into our daily lives.

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THE ROOT OF PEACE Because the gospel is a message of peace (Acts 10:36; From Genesis to Revelation, the root of peace is the Eph 6:15), our biggest problem—God’s wrath—is atoning work of God. When we hear the word, “peace,” behind us. But there is more to peace than the end of we shouldn’t first think of being calm in the face of a God’s wrath. Te Christian who knows the root of peace speech or some other trial. As tempting as it might be, we will see branches of peace extending throughout his life. shouldn’t think first of the tranquil beach. We should Having been reconciled to a holy God, the Christian will think of God making a way for sinners to be reconciled find himself at peace with others and at peace with to him. himself.

Peace, in the Old Testament, was given by God to those PEACE WITH OTHERS who came to him through the shed blood of the sacrificial Christians are called to live at peace with one another animals. No wonder some of those sacrifices were (Mark 9:50; Rom 12:18; 14:19; 1 Tess 5:13; Heb actually called “peace offerings” (Lev 3)! Te psalmist 12:14; James 3:18; 2 Pet 3:14). In fact, the peace we have rejoiced in these sacrifices, praying to the LORD, “you with God and with one another can’t be separated. It’s forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their impossible to be reconciled to God without his peace sin” (Psa 85:2). Looking at the temple, where God atoned spilling over into personal relationships. Notice how Paul for the sins of his people, the same psalmist saw “steadfast connected the two: love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psa 85:10). In other words, through the But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off blood of a lamb without blemish, God replaced wrath have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he with love, infidelity with faithfulness, sin with himself is our peace, who has made us both one and righteousness, and enmity with peace. has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and Peace, in the New Testament, is the gift the Father grants ordinances, that he might create in himself one new those who come to him through the shed blood of his man in place of the two, so making peace, and might Son. We all offended God, each and every one of us reconcile us both to God in one body through the (Rom 3:9-18). We all deserve God’s wrath because of our cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and sin. God, in his loving kindness, provided a way of escape. preached peace to those who were far off and peace to He delivered up Jesus “for our trespasses,” and he raised those who were near (Eph 2:13-17). him “for our justification” (Rom 4:25). Tose who were once God enemies, God now calls his friend. How is this Under the Old Covenant, the “law of commandments possible? Trough the blood of Christ. What is this and ordinances” privileged the Jews. Tey were God’s called? Peace. “Terefore, since we have been justified by special, chosen, uniquely loved people. Te nations were faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus their enemy. But, in Christ, the barrier between Jew and Christ” (Rom 5:1). Gentile has been dismantled. Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall united East and West Germany, so now the walls At its core, peace is not singing “Kumbaya” around a that divide humanity—ethnic, social, cultural, economic campfire with a dozen of your closest friends, going to —have been crushed under the weight of Christ’s work each day with the inner-confidence that all is well, atoning death and resurrection. Te church is now one or a tranquil feeling manufactured by 45 minutes of yoga. body. In Christ we are at peace with God and we are at Te root of peace is the objective reality that God has peace with one another. adopted you into his family as his precious son or daughter. Peace is the fact, solid as granite, that because What does this look like in your life? of Jesus’ work on the cross, every believer is “sanctified in Are you building relationships with non-Christians of Christ” who will “sustain you to the end, guiltless in the • other ethnicities, colors, and backgrounds with day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:2, 8). confidence God will build his church as a monument to his passion for peace? Te power of a tidal wave won’t be limited to the ocean Do you build discipling relationships with people from —it will eventually hit the shore. Likewise, someone who • all walks-of-life as a testimony to the reality that “the knows the peace of God will find it impacts every aspect gospel has made one new man in place of the two?” of his life.

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• Will you forgive those who have wronged you, with the Walking by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) and pursuing the fruit conviction that “so far as it depends on you” you must of peace (Gal 5:22) means remembering I’m not “live peaceably with all” (Rom 12:18)? primarily a preacher or a pastor. For that matter, I’m not primarily a husband, father, son, or friend. First, and PEACE WITH OTHERS foremost, I’m simply a Christian whose biggest problem Te peace we have with God is foundational, and peace is behind him. I’ve been “justified by his grace as a gift.” with others must be pursued. Yet there is peace within Jesus has dealt with the wrath of God I deserve. He has the believer that we would be foolish to neglect. So Paul drunk the full cup of God’s fury against me by hanging prayed, “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and on that tree in my place. Now I can live in the peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit “nevertheless.” you may abound in hope” (Rom 15:13). When I’m tempted to think my sermon isn’t good Far too many believers—behind the pulpit and in the enough, my ministry isn’t strong enough, or my life isn’t pew—are living without this peace that God has what it ought to be, I remember the cross. Calvary is the promised to those who love him. Perhaps it’s because root of my peace. Ten, and only then, can I take a deep they’ve failed to ask for it. Perhaps they’ve taken their breath, keep moving, and, wherever possible, sing. eyes off the root of peace. For whatever reason, they have not yet learned, as Paul did, “the secret of facing plenty Whate’er my God ordains is right: and hunger, abundance and need” (Phil 4:12). His loving thought attends me; No poison can be in the cup Te secret is to remember that those in Christ are Tat my Physician sends me. redeemed and secure, safe and accepted. Tose who have been justified by Christ are forever free to find their identity in Christ. It doesn’t matter how bad the speech goes, how unkind your friend has become, or how uncertain your future plans are. Te rock-solid truth is ~Aaron Menikoff that you have been justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. If this is true, the mountains in your life that seem impassable become pebbles you can barely see.

When our vision of God is big, and the root of peace— his atoning work—is in focus, our problems seem much smaller. Tey are real, but they aren’t ultimate. In other words, when we are confident God has decisively dealt with our sin, our personal weaknesses no longer overwhelm us. Tis is how Paul could be acutely aware of his own frailty but even more aware of God’s strength: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing worth belongs to God and not us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:7-9). Tese are the words of a man who knew peace within.

REMEMBER THE CROSS It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been preaching now for over twenty years. I’m no longer scared of public speaking (praise God!), but I still wrestle with anxiety. Hardly a week goes by where I’m not overwhelmed by the reality that whatever treasure I have, God has truly deposited it in a jar of clay—me!

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Five English Reformers Excerpts from Written by J.C. Ryle the Book Bookstall Price $13

What are you willing to die for? Do you have a cause for which you would 1 be willing to lay down your life? Are “Te state of the laity in the diocese of Gloucester you against abortion? Would you die to stop a baby from being murdered? I was as unsatisfactory as that of the clergy. Tis, of am pretty sure that most of us today course, was only natural. Like pastors, like people.” would be hard pressed to die for a –John Hooper: Bishop and Martyr, p. 67 cause.

However, things were different 460 years ago in England. It wasn’t uncommon for men to be willing to die for a cause. In fact, many walked 2 directly into the flame. And this is “Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man. what the book, Five English Reformers is all about. Written by J.C. Ryle in We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s 1890, it describes the lives of five men: John Hooper, Rowland Taylor, grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Hugh Latimer, John Bradford, and Nicholas Ridley. All died as martyrs -Hugh Latimer as he and Ridley were about to be in 1555 at the hand of Queen Mary, sometimes known as “Bloody burned at the stake. Mary.” Why did they die? Te main reason for being burned at the stake –Nicholas Ridley: Bishop and Martyr, p. 212 was, as John Bradford wrote, “I deny transubstantiation, which is the darling of the devil, and daughter and heir to Antichrist’s religion”(29).

Tis teaching, which is as false today as it was 500 years ago, would as Ryle says, “spoil the blessed doctrine of Christ’s finished work when he died on the cross. A sacrifice that needs to be repeated is not a prefect 3 and complete thing. You spoil the priestly office of Christ. If there are priests that can offer an acceptable sacrifice of God besides him, the “Teir blood was the seed of the church. Te good great high priest is robbed of his glory” (32). that they did by their deaths was more than they did all their lives. Teir martyrdom made Tese five men, along with hundreds of others, were willing to burn at thousands think who were never reached by their the stake instead of acquiescing to a false teaching. As I was reading, it sermons. Myriads, we may depend, came to the was with great thrill I discovered I have an ancestor, John Bland, who conclusion that a church which could act so was also martyred in 1555. Reading this book may serve to be an abominably and cruelly as Rome did could never be encouragement as you learn how believers in the past acted out their love for Christ; so much so that they would gladly suffer and die for him. the one true church of God; and that a cause which Lord, make Philippians 3:10-11 real to us today, “Tat I may know him could produce so much patient and unflinching and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, sufferers must surely be the cause of Christ and becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain truth.” the resurrection from the dead.” –John Hooper: Bishop and Martyr, p. 83

– RECOMMENDED BY LARRY CHANDLER

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New Bible Commentary & New Bible Dictionary Excerpts from the Book 1 “Because the Bible is God’s word, it is vitally important to cultivate humility as we read, to foster a meditative prayerfulness as we reflect and study, to seek the help of the Holy Spirit as we try to understand and obey, to confess sin and pursue purity of heart and motive and relationships as we grow in understanding. Failure in these areas may produce scholars, but not mature Christians.” –D.A. Carson, “Approaching the Bible” New Bible Commentary, p. 18-19 Read your Bible long enough and you are bound to begin asking questions. “Who is this Melchizedek fellow?” “What on earth is happening in Ezekiel?” “How do the all the pieces of wisdom in James fit together?” At times, a good study Bible is all you need to answer your questions. But, sometimes you want a little bit more than your study 2 Bible has to offer. When that happens, where do you turn? Te Internet can be helpful, but it’s hard to know if what you are reading is reliable. “Justification is the key to Paul’s philosophy of Individual commentaries are great, but they are often expensive and history. He holds that God’s central overarching many assume a basic knowledge of Hebrew and Greek that most just purpose in his ordering of world-history since the don’t have. Fortunately, InterVarsity Press has provided two incredibly Fall has been to lead sinners to justifying faith.” helpful resources in the New Bible Commentary and New Bible –J.I. Packer, “Justification” Dictionary. As both a student and teacher of the Word, these two New Bible Dictionary, p. 638 volumes are my go-to resources when I run into questions in my Bible reading and study.

Te New Bible Commentary provides readers with brief, but insightful commentary on every book of the Bible. Te commentators are leading 3 Old and New Testament scholars who have labored to make the content of their commentary accessible to all. Te volume also contains several “Tose who read the gospels merely to discover helpful articles related to approaching the Bible and it’s various literary historical facts about Jesus may succeed in doing so, forms. but they will have missed the point. Te gospels are for those who would ‘believe’ and ‘have life’. Te Te New Bible Dictionary provides definitions and descriptions of key facts about Jesus are recorded not for interest alone, Bible terms, from Aaron to Zuzim. Like the New Bible Commentary, the but for response.” dictionary’s entries are written by leading Evangelical scholars. Most entries are brief, but incredibly helpful when it comes to understanding –R.T. France, “Reading the Gospels” the who, what, and even where of certain people, places, and things New Bible Commentary, p. 903 mentioned in Scripture. I regularly recommend both books to those who teach at MVBC, and I highly recommend them for anyone looking to dig deeper into the Word. – RECOMMENDED BY DUSTIN BUTTS

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He is the radiance of the glory of God and Christian, there is no one and nothing more glorious and the exact imprint of his nature, and he perfect than Jesus Christ. Te Lord gives us a lot of different means to preserve in the faith. But the driving upholds the universe by the word of his motivator for them all is to remember who it is you power. Aer making purificaon for sins, he follow–the fully God-man, Jesus Christ. sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to One of the most theologically explosive phrases in angels as the name he has inherited is more Hebrews is: “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” After Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, he “sat excellent than theirs. down.” Te point is that redemption was accomplished. -Hebrews 1:3-4 Full atonement for sins had been made. Nothing was left ------for Jesus to accomplish in order to reconcile God to man. We continue through Hebrews 1:3-4 in seeing the Te author is echoing Jesus’ cry, “It is finished” (Jn. supremacy of Jesus Christ. Te Christians to whom 19:30). His mission was complete, and now he is seated Hebrews was written were tempted to abandon waiting to judge the world. Christianity and revert back to Judaism, largely because of the persecution they endured for following Jesus Jesus sitting is in stark contrast to the priests of the old (10:32-39). covenant, who never fully and completely rested from offering sacrifices for sins. “And every priest stands daily Before the author exhorts and encourages them to at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, preserve in the faith, he first reminds them of how which can never take away sins. But when Christ had gloriously supreme Jesus is over everything and everyone offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down in the old covenant. Tey were not abandoning just any at the right hand of God” (10:11-12). religious leader. Tey were turning their backs on God himself for Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and Christian, you need not add anything to your salvation. the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the What God plans, God accomplishes. You are to obey and universe by the word of his power.” Jesus does what only follow his commands. But that is simply fruit of what God can do–uphold the universe by his word and make God has done in your life by applying the redemption purification for sins–because he is God. To look upon that Jesus fully and finally accomplished for you! Christ is to look upon the glory of God because he is the “exact imprint of his nature.” – BRAD THAYER

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